San Jose: Man ordered to mental-health treatment for 2021 preschool tortoise attack

SAN JOSE — A man convicted of drunkenly trespassing at a preschool and injuring a beloved pet tortoise with a wooden post nearly two years ago will have to undergo court-ordered mental health treatment, and will be prohibited from having animals for the next decade.

George Robles, 42, has spent most of the past two years in a Santa Clara County jail since his January 2021 arrest following the animal attack at the Play ‘N’ Learn Preschool in East San Jose. The case garnered wide attention thanks to the charisma of Michelangelo, a decades-old African sulcata housed there.

Friday, Judge Robert Hawk suspended a potential prison sentence in favor of two years of probation and compulsory mental health and substance abuse treatment. Hawk also enforced a statutory ban from having any animals for 10 years, a prohibition on any use of drugs or alcohol, and issued a stay-away order barring Robles from coming near the school.

In handing down the sentence, Hawk repeatedly noted “a clear correlation between Mr. Robles’ very serious mental health challenges and substance issues” that would be better served in treatment.

“He’s got a lot better chance there and the community has a better chance there, than to send him to state prison,” Hawk said. “Not only would that be a better outcome for Mr. Robles but also for public safety in our community.”

According to a San Jose police investigation, Robles was first arrested the morning of Jan. 30, 2021 near the preschool after a neighbor saw him yelling and throwing things in the playground and called 911. The school’s owner later found Michelangelo bleeding after being impaled with six-inch shards from a wooden garden gate post lodged in the back of the tortoise’s shell.

She also found a rake handle shoved between the reptile’s head and leg, which she pulled out, and shattered glass from flood lamps that had been unscrewed and broken on the animal’s back. Michelangelo was rushed to emergency veterinary care.

Robles, who lived in a van near the preschool, was placed on a 72-hour mental health evaluation, but within a day was released on $0 bail in accordance with COVID-19 emergency court measures at the time. He returned to the school two days after the attack, an intrusion partially recorded on video in which Robles reportedly stole expensive electronics and caused property damage.

The ensuing investigation identified a third break-in linked to Robles, but which preceded the tortoise attack by three days, in which nearly $2,000 in items at the school were taken. Robles was eventually charged with animal abuse, commercial burglary, and vandalism, and he pleaded no contest to the charges earlier this year.

A message left for the preschool’s owner was not immediately returned Friday.

Ariel Toran, the deputy public defender representing Robles at the Friday sentencing, told Hawk that his client’s actions against the tortoise were a one-off lapse fueled by intoxication rather than a penchant for animal cruelty.

“There is no threat of this reoccurring, this was a very unique circumstance where Mr. Robles was extremely inebriated, and thought the turtle was something else,” Toran said.

Robles nodded repeatedly as Hawk outlined the conditions of his probation, with the judge emphasizing the order to stay away from the preschool.

“You’re not to go near that place, you understand?” Hawk warned, to which Robles said, “Yes.”